MediaWiki's Karl Rove biography gives us this sketch of the man's most basic background and recent activities, based on reliable sources:

Karl Christian Rove (born December 25, 1950) is Deputy Chief of Staff to President George W. Bush until his scheduled departure due to resignation at the end of August 2007. He has headed the Office of Political Affairs, the Office of Public Liaison, and the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives. For most of his career prior to his employment at the White House, Rove was a political consultant almost exclusively for Republican candidates.

Rove's election campaign clients have included George W. Bush (2000 and 2004 presidential elections, 1994 and 1998 Texas gubernatorial elections), Senator John Ashcroft (1994 U.S. Senate election), Bill Clements (1986 Texas gubernatorial election), Senator John Cornyn (2001 U.S. Senate election), Governor Rick Perry (1990 Texas Agriculture Commission election), and Phil Gramm (1982 U.S. House and 1984 U.S. Senate elections).

On April 23, 2007, a federal agency launched an extensive investigation into the activities of the White House's political operation and its architect, Karl Rove. It is checking whether Rove or other White House aides broke federal laws by making political presentations to government employees encouraging them to find ways to support Republican candidates.

On August 13, 2007, the Wall Street Journal reported that Rove would resign from his role in the Administration to return to Texas, effective August 31. According to an interview with Rove conducted by the editor of the Journal editorial page, Rove first floated the idea of resigning in mid-2006 but stayed with the administration through the mid-term election cycle. He plans to focus his time after resignation on teaching and writing.